Coming Home
by wizardwheezes
Summary: Mohinder comes home to his family after being away on a business trip. One-shot.


**Coming Home  
**by wizardwheezes

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Ivie stood on the balcony of her apartment watching a red sun rise over the New York skyline. She leaned against the railing and stared down into the bustling streets below. The morning had just barely dawned, yet the streets were already packed with people on their way to work. Normally Ivie would have been in the middle of the hurried crowds as she went to her job teaching English at a local high school, but it was a day off for her today. Ivie looked at the hordes of yellow taxi cabs and wondered if any of them contained the one she loved...

He had been gone giving lectures in exotic places like Cairo for what seemed like an eternity. It had been much too long. Ivie hugged the shirt she was wearing even closer to her body. It was one of her favorites; she had stolen it from him before he had left and it carried his scent. The sun had reached the height of its ascent into the sky, and Ivie lowered her eyes to avoid the glare. She let out a long, lonely sigh...she wished he was home.

She stood for a few more moments when, out of nowhere (it seemed), two dark hands quietly wrapped around Ivie's waist and held her gently. Ivie smiled. She knew that touch. A voice whispered softly, "You seemed so sad, my love."

Ivie closed her eyes and leaned into the embrace. She let the gentle hands run through her hair and across her shoulders as she breathed the name, "Mohinder."

"When did you get home, Mohinder?" Ivie asked as he planted a kiss on her neck. "I could have come to pick you up."

"I just got here a few minutes ago," Mohinder told her. "I wanted to surprise you! I was actually standing in the doorway for a little while. I was going to call out to you but you looked so lovely, silhouetted against the light like that."

Ivie laughed. "Are you going to be leaving again soon?"

"What?" Mohinder looked shocked. "Why?"

"You're being so sweet. That always means you're going to leave me!"

Mohinder pulled her closer and kissed her deeply. "I won't be leaving you again for a long time," he said. He pulled Ivie close and held her tight as he softly crooned an Indian song. Ivie laced her fingers in his and they stood together on the balcony, caught up in the moment, in themselves. At last they were together again.

No matter how romantic it may be at times, you can stand on a balcony in New York for only so long. Eventually the noise of the city gets to you, as in the case of Ivie and Mohinder. They stepped back inside the apartment and slid the door closed, silencing all the noise from the outside world. Mohinder sniffed the air. "Chai?" he asked.

Ivie nodded. "I didn't know when you were coming home." She paused to reach into an open cupboard to extract two mugs, one with a picture of an eclipse and the other advertising the Takezo Kensei samurai exhibit at the Museum of Natural History (Ivie liked this one; it had a Japanese character that translated to "Godsend" on it). "So every morning I made Chai to welcome you home...it was Molly's idea actually," she explained, pouring the tea.

Mohinder took the cup he was offered. "Where is Molly?" he asked.

"She's still sleeping. She should be up soon though... She'll be so happy to see that you're home!"

They sat in silence for a few more moments before a small voice called, "Ivie! Shanti's crying again!"

Ivie sighed, "I'll be right back," and strolled into the other room. When she came out, she carried a baby girl and was closely followed by Molly, who looked past Ivie and saw Mohinder smiling back at her.

"Mohinder, you're home!" Molly cried. She ran ahead and jumped into his arms. "Did Ivie tell you the chai was my idea? I know how much you liked it so I told her-"

"Yes Molly!" he laughed. "It was very sweet of you."

Ivie joined them on the couch again. She was still holding the baby, who had by this time calmed down and was now staring wide-eyed around the room, gaze shifting from Ivie, to Molly, to Mohinder, and then back again. Molly sat on Mohinder's lap, ecstatic that he had returned. They spoke for several minutes before returning his attention to Ivie and Shanti.

"I finally get to meet my girl," he said, and stretched out his arms for the small child. Ivie carefully handed him the baby and he looked at her in awe. "After all this, I finally get to meet you," he said to the baby, then looked to Ivie. "I still can't believe you named her Shanti... I see so much of my sister in her, I wish I could have been here when she was born."

"It's all right, Mohinder," Ivie told him. "You're here now, and that's all that matters."

"And I won't be leaving again for a long time," Mohinder concluded.

**Fin.**

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Disclaimer: I don't own _Heroes, _but I do own Ivie and the offspring. Haha.  
Author's Note: This is one of my short stories about Mohinder and my OC, Ivie. There's a longer one in progress, "Crossing Paths," so go read it!  
Thanks to: MysticalSpirits, aka Kristen, for breaking up my Joseph Conrad-style paragraphs!


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